Truce of Trust
by PilotDante
Summary: A young woad is sent to Hadrian's Wall to warn the Knights of the coming Saxons and of their destinies. And maybe change them. Tristan/OC


Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize

Fionn saw the knight with braids in his hair and a long scimitar in his hand, pulling the sword out of Derec's body. Fionn felt coldness and rage take over as her best friend fell dead on the ground.

Fionn charged the Sarmatian Knight not caring about the fact that the man was known as a good warrior and always managed to kill all Woads in his path.

The knight blocked her attack and for a brief moment she saw astonishment in his eyes, she saw his gaze on her forehead where the crescent moon-shaped scar of the Goddess had been made by her mother.

Using this moment Fionn took a small knife from her armour and managed to plunge it into the man's side. Quickly the man recovered and sooner than Fionn had time to realize the curved blade was held to her throat.

Fionn looked at the knight straight into his black eyes.

" I need you to take me to Artorius. I have-" Fionn's voice was cut off when the blade dug into her skin drawing blood.

" Why should I?" The man asked.

" I have orders from Merlin. To inform Artorius of an oncoming invasion." Fionn said quietly.

Suddenly a dark haired man walked to them.

" Tristan, odd of you to leave Woads alive." The man made a remark.

" She says she was sent to warn Arthur." The man called Tristan said not taking his eyes off of Fionn's. The blunt and yet intense look in his eyes made it impossible for Fionn to turn her own eyes away. The longing for freedom was the same in her own eyes.

" Arthur!" The dark curly haired man called out and a man dressed in a roman armour walked to them.

" Lancelot, Tristan." He nodded.

To Fionn Arthur didn't look much different than the one called Lancelot, a bit more Roman though.

" She says to have information to you, Arthur." Lancelot said indicating at the woman at the point of Tristan's sword.

Arthur looked at the woman.

" Did Merlin sent you?" He asked.

Fionn nodded.

" What does this information have to do with me?" Arthur asked with a slight frown.

Fionn looked at him not believing her ears. The Roman must have known that he was Britain's only hope to be free.

" The Saxons are invading. They already have taken the Northern parts and are coming South. You command the Sarmatian Knights, Artorius. The warriors of our people believe that you can do anything. You are a part of us, of our people." Fionn said fiercely looking at the roman commander.

Arthur sighed and then looked at the woman again.

" I do not know what Merlin has told you-"

" Your mother, Artorius, was my mother's sister. That makes us blood related. Don't throw away your kin just for your Roman ways and hatred for mine. It was not of our wish for your mother to die." Fionn said pushing aside the blade in front of her.

" Feisty, this one." Lancelot said to Gawain who walked to them.

" Feisty indeed." The red haired man grinned.

Arthur looked at the woman carefully, trying to see something familiar in her.

" You don't look… Woadish." Galahad said as he came to them having heard the last of the conversation. The woman was fair haired and green eyed. The woads usually had dark hair and eyes. There were of course exceptions.

" I am aware of that fact, child knight." Fionn said.

" We don't have time for this." Arthur said, then looking from Fionn to Tristan and back.

" Do you wish to come with us? If you truly are related to me, I would be glad to get to know you… And to hear more of this threat you speak of."

Fionn looked back at the forest where she knew Merlin was watching.

" Yes. I will come with you."

At this point Galahad noticed blood running down Tristan side.

" Tris, she wounded you!" The young knight exclaimed.

" Tristan…" Arthur's voice held a question.

" It's nothing. I'll see Garaus when we get to the Wall." Tristan said annoyed by Galahad's sharp eyes.

" It is settled then. Tristan, ride ahead and make sure the road is clear. Lady-" Arthur said and turned to look at Fionn.

" Call me Fionn. I am no lady." She said and agreed when Gawain offered to ride with her.

They reached the Wall with no complications and Fionn found herself amused by the exchange of words between the knights as they rode along the side of the Wall.

She smiled when Galahad was harassed by Gawain and Bors and laughed when Lancelot gave his opinions of Gawain's future wife and children. She noticed that Tristan took little heed in the conversations, a small remark here and there quietly said when Galahad argued of the nature of killing and clearly was disgusted in the way Tristan held his knighthood.

They rode into the courtyard and some stable boys took their horses while the arrogant Bishop got out of his carriage and invaded Arthur's quarters.

Fionn noticed that the knights held no respect for the holy man who was in a matter of hours going set them free of their slavery. Not that she loved the fool either.

Fionn was escorted into a room in the Knights wing, for she had no interest to be surrounded by the roman women of the Badon Hill fortress. The room had obviously belonged to a knight, probably long dead. Simple and clean. A bed on the utmost wall beside a window. Opposite to the bed was a door that led into a small bathing room. And on the wall between the two doors was a table and a chair.

Fionn was given water and soap and clean clothes by a man named Jols, in order freshen up before joining the others in the Fortress Hall.

After bathing Fionn held up the clothes laid out for her. A dress. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, but the silk beneath her fingers felt oddly nice. The colour was of deep forest green, like her eyes. She tried it out and while she didn't feel entirely comfortable in a dress after years of trousers and shirts, she decided to wear it. The dress had long cut sleeves and it reached easily her toes for she was not the tallest of women, the dress obviously belonged to some tall roman beauty. She couldn't have cared less and so she made her way to the Fortress Hall carefully avoiding stepping on the hem of the dress which would result a harsh meeting with the floor. She met Gawain and Dagonet on the way. Both complimented her on the outfit and she found herself blushing.

" You do not mind me being here when you get your papers?" Fionn asked when they opened the huge doors into the Hall.

" First we want to know your story and if you really are Arthur's cousin. And the presence of a woman will probably irritate the Bishop…" Gawain grinned.

Bors, Galahad, Lancelot and Arthur were already seated around a huge round table with a fire burning on the centre.

" Fionn. Come have a seat, we have much to talk about." Arthur waved her to seat on his right.

Fionn knew that there had once been a table full of knights but the weary years of battling with her people had taken it's toll. For a few years now only six knights had been seen, plus their commander. Fionn took the offered seat and noticed that the last of the knights was walking towards the Hall, Dagonet had left the door open on purpose knowing that Tristan would soon follow them into the meeting.

" So, Fionn. Tell me about your mother. Howcome I have never heard of her." Arthur asked and Fionn turned her gaze towards him and the faces of the curious knights.

" According to my uncle, Merlin, my mother was from a quite wealthy family, she was given to the Priestesses of Avalon at a very young age and she never saw her family again. What I have been told you mother married the Roman commander, Castus and lived her life here." Fionn explained.

" What happened to your mother?" Lancelot asked, Fionn had noticed that Arthur and Lancelot were close friends, so of course he was worried about Arthur's remaining family. But what Fionn didn't know was that when the young boys had been brought to the Wall to serve their fifteen years, Arthur's mother had become a mother to them all. Not a year later had she been killed in a Woad raid, while visiting her parents.

Fionn looked at the table.

" She met my father, my father was the healer of our tribe and went to Avalon to ask help for some sickness. They sent my mother, but she never returned to Avalon. Instead she married my father and when I was two-years-old she died of fever. My father blamed himself, failing as a healer. When I was ten he went to help some warriors on the battle field…" Fionn couldn't look at the knights anymore. She felt a hand on her shoulder and Arthur looking at her with sadness.

" I remember that day, Fionn. You father was the healer sent to aid the wounded. Unarmed and defenceless. I am truly sorry for his death." Arthur and Fionn could hear murmured apologies around the table.

" I thank you. After my father's death Merlin took me in and raised me as his own. Till this day I have wanted revenge for my father, but I see that you are good people and that day had no choice." Fionn said looking around at the knights. Her gaze fell on Tristan, his stare pulling her to look deeper into his soul. Fionn tore her gaze from his, not desiring to delve on that man's deepest secrets.

" Are you trained in healing as well?" Dagonet asked suddenly.

" Yes, Merlin taught me some usual healing and according to him, I inherited my mother's ability to heal souls through the magic of Avalon." Fionn said.

" Magic?" Galahad snorted looking at her.

Fionn looked straight at him.

" Yes. Merlin is said to have magical abilities. That's utter nonsense. The magic of the isle of Avalon is different. The Lady of the Lake, Viviane, is a friend of Merlin's and when I visited the Holy Island she taught me some of their magic."

" That's the reason for the Crescent Moon." A quiet voice noted and Fionn saw Tristan looking at her.

She knew he meant the carved crescent moon scar on her forehead which meant she was devoted to the Old Ways and to the Mother Goddess.

Fionn nodded at the silent man.

" So you serve the Mother Goddess?" Lancelot asked with a grin. Knowing that the priestesses of that religion were off limits, to some.

" No, first I am devoted to my tribe as a healer, then to the Goddess as her follower, not a servant nor a priestess." Fionn said.

" But the reason why I am here now has nothing to do with my healings, but my visions." Fionn said.

" Visions?" Arthur frowned.

" Sometimes I have dreams that a disturbing, they have always come true, Merlin calls them visions." Fionn explained.

" Then, what have you seen, o sightfull lady?" Lancelot asked with a smirk.

For a moment Fionn looked uneasy.

" I have had the same dream for many weeks now. I see you fighting and... dying. Whether you want it or not, your battle is still ahead of you. Merlin urged me to come here and warn you about the Saxons and your destiny." Fionn said.

" Battle? But that cannot be. We are to be released today. Lady, you are wrong." Galahad argued heatedly.

Fionn shook her head and just then the Bishop entered.


End file.
